By Kelan Lu & Marijke Breuning
Abstract
Does women's representation influence foreign (aid) policy? And, if so, is this best explained as a function of women's unique values or attributable to the impact of greater gender equality? Building on previous work, we investigate whether women's greater presence in political life evidence of greater gender equality is associated with greater generosity, or whether women's values and (some) women's ability to influence policy as ministers affect aid's generosity. We find that women's representation in the parliament and in the cabinet is positively associated with a donor state's generosity, but that female ministers of foreign policy-related ministries do not influence the state's generosity. These findings suggest that gender equality is a more promising explanation for the generosity of states' foreign aid than women's values.
Conclusions
The findings reported in the previous section confirm that women's representation in the parliament and in the cabinet does play enea significant role in increasing the generosity of the donor state's development aid even after controlling for other potentially confounding variables. In contrast, when women serve as minister of foreign affairs, economics and trade, or development cooperation, this is not associated with more generous aid. In fact, female foreign ministers are associated with less foreign aid. This combination of findings suggests that it is gender equality in the donor state that matters, rather than women's values. Before elaborating on the implications of this finding, we briefly review the impact of our remaining variables.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women address journalists during a press briefing on the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in September 1995. Photo by: Evan Schneider / U.N.
Almost two decades after 189 governments made a historic commitment in China to a world of equality between women and men, it’s time to discuss progress made and challenges ahead.
U.N. Women hosted on Thursday in New York a public event to launch their year-long campaign to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the historic 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, where tens of thousands of government, NGO and private sector officials produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a document lauded as visionary for its time and which today continues to pave the way for women’s empowerment and gender equality.
МВР треба да докаже дека не дискриминира
Мрежата за заштита од дискриминација остро го осудува најновиот случај на постапување на граничните полициски службеници кога се работи за напуштање на границите на Република Македонија од страна на припадниците на ромската етничка заедница.
Деновиве во јавноста беше објавен нов случај на ограничување на правото на слободно движење на припадничка на ромската етничка заедница, актерката Емра Куртишова. Во конкретниот случај на актерката, не и било дозволено да го напушти скопскиот аеродром и да отпатува во посета на својата сестра во Германија.
Овој случај не е изолиран, ниту единствен, туку е само потврда на веќе воспоставената дискриминациска пракса на Министерството за внатрешни работи да го ограничува правото на слободно движење и напуштање на државата за Ромите, а под изговор дека лицата се можни азиланти. Меѓутоа, со овој случај се докажува дека ниту статусот на вработено лице, ниту причината поради која се напушта државата, ниту поседувањето на потребните документи не се доволни за Ромите да го остварат своето право на слободно движење и напуштање на земјата.
Until recently, most data on sexual violence in conflict have measured rape of women committed by combatants, using information from governmental, humanitarian, or human rights organisations or facility-based reports. This documentation, while informative, is likely to have captured only the most grievous cases4 and can overlook the multiple and inter-related types of violence during conflict, displacement, and post-war reconstruction.
What is quietly emerging, but long known among humanitarian aid organisations, is that alongside conflict-related rape, violence by intimate partners is also highly prevalent and is likely to continue long after peace agreements have been signed.
Although gender-based violence in conflict has moved up the policy agenda, evidence on what comprise effective responses to sexual and other war-time abuses is limited.13 For example, a systematic review of intervention evaluations in humanitarian crises found only three published evaluations of projects that address violence against women.
As the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict takes place in London, UK, on June 10—13, 2014, the international community faces a propitious moment to address the horrors of sexual violence in conflict and other forms of gender-based violence. Sexual violence in conflict has occurred throughout modern history, including the targeted mass rapes and murders of women in Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971, the systematic rape of women in the Balkans and during the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s, and current sexual abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Syria.1—3 Until recently, most data on sexual violence in conflict have measured rape of women committed by combatants, using information from governmental, humanitarian, or human rights organisations or facility-based reports. This documentation, while informative, is likely to have captured only the most grievous cases4 and can overlook the multiple and inter-related types of violence during conflict, displacement, and post-war reconstruction.
Twenty-seven countries worldwide continue to discriminate against women in their ability to confer their nationality on their children on an equal basis with men. Gender discrimination in nationality laws contravenes Article 9(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and can lead to statelessness when fathers are stateless or also unable to confer their nationality on their children. In addition, over 60 countries deny women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality, including the ability of women to confer nationality on their non-national spouses. Such provisions contravene Article 9(1) of CEDAW.
Women’s inability to pass on their citizenship to their children and spouses puts huge financial, psychological and physical strains on families, often resulting in an intergenerational spiral of destitution and depression.
Statelessness resulting from gender discrimination in nationality laws can have serious and far reaching consequences, often leading to violations of fundamental human rights. Stateless people face many barriers and obstacles: without citizenship or identity documents they may be unable to own or rent property, secure formal employment or access services such as public health care, education and social welfare benefits. Statelessness impacts individuals' ability to marry and couples' decisions to start a family.
Извор: WUNRN – 26.06.2014
